Transport 15 from Berlin, Berlin (Berlin), City of Berlin, Germany to Sobibor, Extermination Camp, Poland on 13/06/1942

Before the transport, the deportees received notification of their impending deportation with the usual instructions for transports leaving the Reich including a limited amount of luggage weighing up to 50 kg. They also received a form to declare their remaining property in detail. In many cases, Jews were brought to the assembly point by Gestapo personnel or by “marshals” - other Jews who were forced to assist in the deportation process. They forced their way into the residences of those Jews whose names appeared on the deportation list and ensured that they were prepared to leave. The victims were given a few minutes to get ready and leave their homes forever. In such cases they could only take a small amount of luggage with them. A truck collected the Jews on the street and after completing the roundup from other apartments took them to the assembly point which was set up in the synagogue at Levetzowstrasse 7-8 in the Tiergarten district of Berlin. On arrival at the synagogue grounds, which were guarded by German policemen, the Jews underwent a registration process which was often violent. The Gestapo forced them to declare their property and hand over the keys to their homes. Then they had to sign a document confirming that they transferred everything to the State. They were also forced to hand over all valuables and cash. Sometimes more than 1,000 people were stranded for days at the site awaiting deportation. They would sleep on the floor or on bags filled with straw. The sanitary conditions were terrible, as was the mood of the deportees. The doctors and nurses did all they could to help, but some people suffered nervous breakdowns and a few even committed suicide. All Jewish property was sold by the Gestapo after the transport left. On June 13 all deportees were taken from the assembly camp to Grunewald station. Those unable to walk were taken there by truck while the others were made to walk about seven kilometres across the city. At the station, third-class passenger cars ordered by the Gestapo and supplied by the Reichsbahn awaited them and the deportees were ordered to board the train. This transport departed on the same day. It was the 15th out of over 60 transports to the East (Osttransporte) which together took more than 35,000 Jews from Berlin to ghettos and extermination sites in Eastern Europe. It consisted of up to 1,030 men, women and children. There were up to 748 Jews from Berlin and up to 280 from the Potsdam area, this being the third deportation from that region. There were at least 24 children on board, as well as three teachers of the “Israelitische Erziehungsanstalt für geistig zurückgebliebene Kinder” (Israelite education institution for mentally retarded children) from Beelitz, a town 22 kilometres south of Potsdam. The members of this group, among them the head of the institution, Sally Bein (b. 1881), had already left Beelitz on June 2 and were probably kept in Berlin until their departure. During the journey the Jews were guarded by a commando of 15 men from the Schupo (police). Their destination was not disclosed and after two days in overcrowded cars, they arrived at the Sobibor extermination camp on June 15. On the way the train stopped at the train station in Lublin where a selection of an unknown number of able bodied men aged between 15 and 50 were taken off the train and sent to the Majdanek concentration camp....